by Cate, Marnie
I walked across the dance floor and sea of dancing couples towards the exit. Carefully opening the hanging door, I peeked in to see if I could see anything. The walkway was filled with boxes of canned food and bottles of liquor. I could see the door leading to the outside was partially open. Slowly walking through the kitchen, I did not call the attention of the cooks and servers as they bustled about.
When I reached the door to the outside entrance, I could see it led to a narrow alley. As I carefully poked my head out, I could hear Cole's voice. Slowly, I cracked the door open and listened.
Cole's voice whispered, “You have no right to pull me out here. I'm doing what you want. I'm watching them for you. What else can I do?”
The next voice I heard both frightened and angered me. “You are spending too much time playing house and not doing what I expect of you. Time is ticking,” the hiss of Snowystra rang in my ears.
Chapter 24
“I really am doing what you want. I haven't had a chance to get her alone to talk to her about the benefits of working with you. You just left me not even two hours ago. I told you I needed time,” Cole said. His tone shocked me. Why was he talking to her like this?
“She isn't one to be rushed,” he continued. “Can't you trust me?”
“I want it done soon. Do you understand me? Your power is strong but I need both of you to ally with me for my plan to work.”
“Marina will follow me,” he said, “She will be putty in my hands.”
The crunching sound of gravel under their feet made it possible for me to slip out of the kitchen out into the alley. I squatted behind the dumpster and peered around to see them. Snowystra was pressed against him and had begun tracing her fingernails along his lips.
“Don't you want to rule my kingdom alongside me?” she cooed. “I can give you everything your heart desires. How can I believe that you will be able to convince her tonight? If she really loved you, this would not be difficult at all. She would be standing here now.
“I can convince her. Then, we can be together. I promise,” he said. He leaned down and kissed her.
The world around me began to spin and felt like I was going to pass out. Fighting the urge to attack them both, I watched him kiss her again. Closing my eyes, I waited for it to be over.
“Come with me tonight. I will make your magic so much stronger. Marina will follow…that is if she really loves you,” she purred.
The loud sound of crunching gravel told me they were walking away. Hot tears flowed. This couldn't be real. Wiping the tears off my face, I knew that I had to find Kai. Taking the same route back into the bar, I slipped into the crowd unnoticed.
Kai was dancing with Ginger to a slow song. Tapping him on the shoulder, I said, “I need to talk to you now.”
“Now is not a good time.”
“Kai, she's here,” I hissed, fighting to hold back my tears. “She left with Cole.”
Finally listening to me, he released his hold on Ginger. Seeing my tear streaked face, he took my hand. “Where did they go?”
“Sorry, Ginger,” Kai said, kissing her on the cheek. “Family business calls. I will catch up with you later.”
Once we were outside, I told Kai what I had seen. “Which direction did they walk?”
“I don't know. I guess that way.” I pointed towards Charlemagne's. Once again, I felt a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. “She was all over him and he didn't stop her. He was kissing her.”
“Mara, she has used her magic on him. Cole wouldn't do that to you.”
“Why not? Don't I deserve it?” I confessed. “You have been in my thoughts since I came back. Maybe Cole knew? Maybe I deserve to lose him.”
Sitting down on the concrete sidewalk, I put my face into my hands and began to cry. The world around me was closing in. I was losing another person I loved.
Sitting down next to me, he put his arm around me. The warmth I would normally feel excited by made me feel dirty.
“No,” I said, shoving away from him. “This is why she was able to turn him away from me.”
Not letting me push away, he held me tighter. “Mara, you are not the reason for any of this. Nothing you have done could have caused this. We need to find him.”
As we walked down Main Street, the buildings blurred. I felt like I was walking through a dense fog. She had taken Cole but he had not fought her. He wanted to be with her.
By the time we arrived at the hotel, I had composed myself enough to stop the tears I had been holding back. The suffocating feeling of being underwater and drowning in my sorrow was still there but I fought my urge to sink into the pain. When we entered the penthouse, it was silent. We found Essie sitting in an overstuffed leather chair reading a book.
Not looking up, she asked, “Did you guys have a nice time?”
When I didn't respond, she stood up and came to me. “What happened, Mara? Are you okay?” Looking at Kai, she questioned, “Who is your friend?”
“Essie, this is Kai he is—,”
“You are one of Danu's elementals,” she said. “Fire, I would guess from the heat you are emitting.”
He lifted the copper necklace she wore around her neck. The spiral sun had a golden yellow gem in the center. It glowed as he touched it.
“And the necklace you are wearing tells me that you are one of Brighid's children. Sadly, my mother has always been against educating newcomers about our world. In her defense, she has only allowed mortals into her realm less than a century ago. I'm surprised that Blaze didn't know about you though.”
“I can see why you have become a concern to Cole,” she said, avoiding his statement and leading me to the couch. “Don't you think you should hold back your allure? You know better than to entice mortals. Your presence is too much of a temptation for even the strongest girl.”
“You must be confused,” he said, sitting next to me. “My intentions are only to protect Mara and her family.”
Eyeing him cautiously, she sat down on the other side of me. “Talk to me, Mara. Tell me what happened.”
“What are you both talking about? What didn't Danu teach me? What are you keeping from me Kai?”
Glaring at both of them, I stood to face them. “We don't have time for this. Cole is with her. She almost killed my father. We need to help him.”
Suddenly a hot pain in my chest radiated throughout my body and consumed me. Struggling to breathe, I felt like I was drowning. Dark spots appeared before my eyes, veiling my vision. I felt my head hit the edge of the coffee table as I fell.
Chapter 25
A soft hum of chimes sounded and roused me from my unconsciousness. The sound grew louder as I opened my eyes to complete blackness. A small spark of light appeared above me and spread like spider webs. The silver strands filled the thick air. Unable to take a full breath, I felt something twisting around me.
Tendrils began to cover me and the silky threads caressed my skin. Slowly, the pain in my lungs began to lift and I was able to take a long deep breath. Thoughts of Cole and Snowystra came to mind.
“Child,” a maternal voice called to me, “we have not much time. Listen carefully and learn.”
Unable to speak, I nodded and watched as shapes began to form before my eyes. The silver formed an image of a man and a woman. A voice began to speak.
Arianolwyn and Alaunius fell madly in love. Against her father, Tannus', wishes she ran away to be with him. The young lovers were consumed only with their love.
The emotions they had for each other filled me. It felt like they were my own emotions of passion, love and desire. The feelings grew so strong that my heart began beating faster. As they joined to one, a burst of light filled the sky. The bliss that they both felt ran through me but ended abruptly.
When Tannus found the young lovers, he struck Alaunius with a bolt of lightning killing him. Arianolwyn, who was now pregnant, begged him to not leave her. Alaunius vowed that their child would never be alone as he died in her arms.
Heart-wrenching pain filled me. I wanted the story to stop but the voice continued.
The baby inside Arianolwyn grew as she mourned the death of her lover. Her tears streaked the sky with red, blue, green and yellows. The colors drifted together to form a silver wheel. As it turned, her body changed and soon she was heavy with child and the day for the child to be born came. Silver tendrils came from the sky and carried the child away. Arianolwyn grasped the many cords that held her child, now suspended above her. Holding tightly, she struggled until she lost her grasp on all but one of the lines connected to her daughter. The released silver began covering the child. The voice of Alaunius filled the sky and he cried, “Of the one will become three.”
Thunder and lightning filled the sky surrounding the baby as Arianolwyn watched helplessly a cocoon of silver wrapped her child before changing to a ball of the light. The ball grew larger and broke off into three identical balls. As each ball continued to grow larger, they began to change.
One filled with the spirit of the elements – air, fire, water and earth. The child was named Danu and declared the holder of the elements, the mother of Air, Fire, Water and Earth.
The second began to fill with ice, sparks of electricity and the darkness of shadows. The dark haired child was named Snowystra, the mother of darkness, loss and winter.
From the minute Snowystra was born, she had a strong hatred for her sister. The anger and struggle between the two was unyielding. Arianolwyn restrained both girls and brought down the final ball.
The third filled with a white plasma that turned black. The liquid bounced back and forth between the two colors until it settled as a burning ball of orange. The red headed child born to be the balancing force of dark and light was named Brighid.
With those words, the space I was in faded and I found myself lying in a room staring at the blades of a fan swirling above me. My vision blurred and I was unable to focus. As I closed my eyes, I was pulled out of the wave of unconsciousness that I was longing to let consume me. Strong arms wrapped around me and picked me up off the ground.
“Cole,” I said, my voice cracking. I struggled to sit up and was stopped by strong arms holding me down. “No, I need to go find him.”
“Caterpillar, stop,” my father said. As I fought against him, he held my shoulders tighter. “We will find him but first we need to take care of you. You fainted and have a bad gash on the side of your head.”
“She took him,” I cried. No matter how hard I tried to break free from my father's hold, I couldn't sit up. “You didn't see them. You don't know what she has done to him. Why are you—?”
“Sit her up, Elliott,” Essie said, handed me a glass of white milky substance. “Drink this. You will sleep again. When you awake, we will talk about finding Cole.”
As I began to argue with her, Hazel appeared. “You can't help him if you keep fainting, Mara. Please drink it. I will stay with you.”
Relenting, I put the glass to my mouth and my senses were overwhelmed with the sweet smell of vanilla and lavender followed by the spice of cinnamon. Placing her hand over mine, Hazel steadied me and I drank the warm mixture. My eyes grew heavy and I felt the need to put my head on the pillow behind me.
As Hazel took the glass from me and turned to leave, I grabbed her hand. “Don't go,” I pleaded.
“I'm here,” she said putting the glass on the bedside table. As I shifted to the middle of the bed, she climbed in next to me. I snuggled into her arms and was reminded of Gram.
“Sleep, Mara,” she whispered, “Just sleep.”
* * *
When I woke, I found myself alone in Essie's bed. I was no longer dizzy and the pain in my head was gone. Walking into the bathroom, I turned the silver handle of the washbasin and filled my hands with cold water. Splashing it on my face, I gazed at my reflection. On the side of my head, there was a large white bandage. Slowly peeling it off, I gasped as I saw the bloody gash covered in a bluish paste. Cautiously touching it, I realized that the blood was dried.
Taking one of the washcloths from the neat stack, I ran it under water. Carefully, I began to wipe it across my forehead. When I was done, the only thing that remained was a faint silver line running from the corner of my eye and up past my temple into my scalp. I stared at the faint scar wondering why I had fainted.
“Oh, good. You are awake,” Hazel said. Entering the bathroom, she carried a steaming mug. “I brought you some tea.”
“I am going to shower and change my clothes. Then, we need to find Cole. He is not safe.”
“Mara, you had a serious injury,” Hazel said. “You need—”
I handed the mug back to her. “All I need is to find Cole. When I was unconscious, Arianolwyn showed me the triplets. I need to find Brighid. She will stop Snowystra. If you are done telling me what I need, I am going to wash the blood off of me and then I am going to find Cole.”
Without waiting for a response, I took a towel off the hook and entered the shower. As I scrubbed my hair, my anger towards Snowystra grew. I was not going to let her take Cole. Whatever had happened was not his fault. She had hurt too many people in my life and I was going to stop her.
Wrapping myself in a towel, I went to find the bag of clothes I had brought with me when I found Essie sitting on a chair by the bed.
“You look much better than you did last night, Mara. How are you feeling?” she asked.
“I am fine. I just need to get dressed and start searching for Cole.”
Touching the scar by my eye, she said, “It healed nicely. If you can avoid passing out today, we will begin our search for Cole.”
Raising my eyebrow, I wasn't sure if she was joking or picking a fight. As she read the expression on my face, she said. “Just a little light humor to break up the serious situation. I will leave you to dress.”
I threw on some clothes and braided my hair. I found my father and Essie in the dining room. My father kissed Essie on the cheek and placed a plate of food in front of her. As he began to walk away, she pulled him down and kissed him on the lips. Clearing my throat, they broke away from their kiss and turned to me.
“Mara, come sit,” my father said. Filling a plate with French toast and fruit, he set it down on the table. Before, I could say no, he said, “Sit. You need to eat something before we go.”
Accepting the fact that he was not going to let me search for Cole now, I began to eat the meal he gave me in silence. Then suddenly I realized that Meg and Miles were not with us. I jumped out of my seat. “Where is Meg? Where is Miles? Who is watching them? They can't be left alone.”
“They are with Patrick and Hazel. I asked him to watch over them. They wanted to go swimming and I thought it would be good for them to be away while we figure everything out,” Essie said.
“I just checked on them,” Kai said, entering the room and taking my arm. “You need to control your emotions and we can calmly discuss what I have found out about Cole.”
“I'm not in the mood for games, Kai,” I said. “Tell me where he is and how we can bring him back.”
“You need—” Kai said.
Before he had a chance to lecture me anymore, I interrupted, “I need to find Cole. Help me or stay out of my way. He needs me. You didn't see her with him. You didn't see what she has turned him into. You didn't see—”
The feeling I felt last night filled me again. Hot fiery pain shot through me and once again, I felt unable to breathe. As I stumbled, Essie held onto me and began spraying me with a citrus scented water.
Chapter 26
Kai filled us in on everything that he had found out about where Snowystra had taken Cole. He was careful in his words, which made me wonder what he was holding back. Fighting back the pain I was feeling at the thought of Cole being with her, I focused on the next steps ahead.
“Meg and Miles will be safe here. We can stop by the pool and say goodbye before we go,” Essie said, as she handed me a bottle of water and a small leather bag. “We will find him
.”
Essie led us through the hotel stopping at a wall of fogged class windows. My father held the door open for us and we entered the pool area. The room was filled with green plants with blooming flowers in bright colors of orange, pink and yellow. The air was humid and filled with the soft chirping of birds.
We found Meg and Miles splashing and swimming under a rock waterfall as Hazel supervised. They laughed and played with no idea that there was danger lurking. No idea that Cole had been taken.
When they saw me, they waved and ran to me. “Careful, you two. Didn't anyone teach you to not run by a swimming pool?”
“Mar, it is so fun,” Meg said. “Are you going to sleep for another three days tonight? You sleep so much. Can you tell Cos to hurry up and finish painting Mrs. Ward's house and come back? He will have the best time here.” Her using the nickname she gave Cole when she was a small child was like a small stab in my heart.
Kissing them each on the forehead, I said, “Cole will be excited to swim here. You will have to find out everything about it and be ready to show him. We are going to be away to take care of a few things today. I want you to listen to Hazel and Patrick while I am gone.”
“We will, Mar,” Miles said. “Won't we Meg?” Nodding, she smiled and winked at me as they scurried back to the pool. Stopping, Meg ran back and wrapped her arms around me squeezing me hard. Before I knew it, she was off again walking quickly to the pool dragging Miles with her.
“Don't worry, Miss Mara,” the gruff voice of Patrick said. I had not seen him when we entered the pool area. His golden eyes twinkled as he looked at my grandmother. “The little ones will be in good hands with Miss Hazel and me.”
Hugging me, Hazel whispered, “They will be fine. Patrick is one of Brighid's children. Now go find Cole and bring him home to us.”